The challenge was to create jewelry that is ephemeral. I began playing with the collections of natural treasures collected on hikes, found beneath trees and surely to wash away so gracefully with time. And quickly I began to focus on sound. So for the SNAG Here Today Challenge, I knew I wanted to share this concept of sound as adornment. Perhaps there is some throwback to boomboxes on shoulders, some nod to speakers in our fanny-packs; but it is not music that I see as adornment, perhaps we can let music stay her own art for now. What I want to share is ambient sound that allows for an expression of identity through its subtle presence while reminding us gently to be present in our days. Working with bells, bowls and other percussive instruments, we are creating compilations of sound adornment with long record times and looping play easily attached to the body with any audio capable device. And, as I considered the mountain of variations I hope to address I realized I ought offer up a potential delivery device more aesthetically pleasing than our iPhones. At first I was delighted to play with the collections of found natural objects, leftover treasures from books and boxes built for past bodies of work. And then I found something else, a deepening concern for our environment, disbelief with plastic waste, and a Lix Pen, “the world’s smallest 3D printer” that draws in recycled plastic. Thinking it would be a prototype and discovering the potential of this material to create whimsical pieces that will last at least an extended moment, bring joy in their physical state, be easily recyclable, and hold a tiny bluetooth speaker that will allow our actual adornment -sound- to stealthily and beautifully find a home on the human body… I offer these sounds and this brooch. The plastic was recycled from objects that no longer exist and, still recyclable, this very object in its present form will one day no longer exist. The sound is free of deliberate composition and so it too is unlikely to be performed again as you hear it in these recordings. Finally, the technology we are relying on to deliver these recordings is changing so fast that I imagine it too may be gone tomorrow.
Recycled Plastic Brooch for Ambient Sound Adornment by Crystal Hartman